Bria Skonberg, the Hot Sardines, and Danny Jonokuchi are just some of the many artists who will be appearing at the Gotham Jazz Festival, to be held on Sunday, April 28, from 1 p.m.-12 a.m. at the Downtown Association Club in New York City.
Trumpeter/vocalist Skonberg (photo above) moved from British Columbia to New York City in 2010 and has been an integral part of the New York/New Jersey jazz scene ever since. The Wall Street Journal has called her “one of the most versatile and imposing musicians of her generation.” She recently returned from a national tour with fellow trumpeter/vocalist Benny Benack III. Skonberg and Benack collaborated on Duke Ellington’s “In a Mellow Tone” on Benack’s LaReserve/Bandstand Presents album, Third Time’s The Charm, which Jazz Buffalo‘s Tony Zambito called a “remarkable collaboration . . . Their rendition of the song showcases their musical prowess as they alternate between singing and playing the trumpet, creating a truly memorable performance.”
The Hot Sardines have appeared at the Morristown Jazz & Blues Festival, the Newport Jazz Festival, the Montreal Jazz Festival, and have sold out New York City venues such as Joe’s Pub and the Bowery Ballroom. At the 2016 Newport Jazz Festival, Jersey Jazz Magazine’s Sandy Ingham described the group’s “Limber-limbed dancing and hip takes on hits from the 1930s.” When the Hot Sardines performed in London in 2015, The Guardian‘s John Fordham wrote, “These New Yorkers play big halls as if they’d just dropped in to party.”
Jersey Jazz first reported on trumpeter Danny Jonokuchi in March 2021 when his band, The Revisionists, won the first-ever Count Basie American Swing contest with a virtual performance of “One O’Clock Jump”. Originally from California, Jonokuchi majored in Jazz Studies at Temple University’s Boyer School of Music in Philadelphia and stayed in New York after graduating. Reviewing Jonokuchi’s 2023 Outside in Music album, Voices, Joe Lang of Jersey Jazz wrote: “Jonokuchi has written charts that swing hard and offer terrific musical beds for the vocalists. From the first track to last, this is an aural feast.”
The Downtown Association Club is located at 60 Pine St. in New York City. For information and tickets, log onto gothamjazzfest.nyc.com.
PHOTO BY STEVEN SUSSMAN